By Michaela Gordoni
World-renowned baker Mary Berry celebrated her 91st birthday on Tuesday.
The TV host and chef was born in 1935 but doesn’t plan on retiring soon.
Last year, she said, “I’ve still got lots of ideas. And the great thing is, I’ve still got a great team who work alongside me. I just want to keep doing what I love.”
Berry began a career in food writing in 1970. She moved on to publish her own cookbook and wrote over 70 books in her lifetime. She got her start on TV in the ’70s on AFTERNOON PLUS before starring in other food shows — THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF being one of her most notorious.
She’s received any honors for her culinary contributions and was appointed as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her cooking and writing services.
Related: Star Baker Mary Berry Shares Best Christmas Memories—Some Naughty, Some Nice
The day before her birthday, Berry published her very first gardening book.
“I had no intention of writing a gardening book, but I’ve always been interested in gardening. When I was a child, growing up in Bath, I loved being outside,” she said. “Back then, there weren’t theme parks, and I didn’t know what a sleep-over was.”
“You played in the garden with friends, and I can name almost all the plants that were in my parents’ garden during those war years…I remember the herbaceous borders and can still get the smell of the flowers. Dad had to garden during the war because it was food. So, he grew vegetables and I also got a patch of garden to grow some flowers,” she recalled.
The book is called My Gardening Life. It’s as much of a memoir as it is a gardening book.
One of the photos in the book features Berry on her wedding day with a cake she baked.
“I think of my wedding dress because at that time I was working on Housewife magazine and was terribly busy with two jobs. I still hadn’t got a wedding dress, but I heard that there was a sale in Camden Town,” she said. “So, I went and bought my dress for £5. And that was another job done.”
“I used to wear it on my birthday to start with and then I got much bigger a few years ago and I wouldn’t have fit into it. I’d be able to get into it now,” she said.
After 50 years together, she and her husband Paul still get along.
“We rarely get cross with each other. If we do, I’ll open the back door, walk in the garden and by the time I’m back indoors I’ll have forgotten about it,” she said. “When we were first married, Paul would be driving and say, ‘Did you see what that chap just did?!’ and I’d say ‘What does it matter? He can’t hear you and I couldn’t care less.’ More than anything I think a long, loving relationship is all about respect,” she said.
After 91 years, Berry is still sharing her heart with the world, and her fans hope she continues to do so for years to come.
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